Bitch Media - Neko Casehttp://bitchmagazine.org/taxonomy/term/7649/0
enOn Our Radar: Feminist News Rounduphttp://bitchmagazine.org/post/on-our-radar-feminist-news-roundup-189
<p dir="ltr">• We’re still reeling from the absolutely tragic shootings at UC Santa Barbara last weekend. <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/doublex/2014/05/_yesallwomen_in_the_wake_of_elliot_rodger_why_it_s_so_hard_for_men_to_recognize.html">Conversations about our societal blind spot for misogyny</a>, <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2014/05/elliot-rodger-and-poisonous-ideals-of-masculinity/371588/">troubling definitions of masculinity</a>, and the fear of violence that all women face have continued throughout the week. [Slate, The Atlantic]</p>
<p dir="ltr">• <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/apostasy-woman-in-sudan-sentenced-to-death-forced-to-give-birth-with-her-legs-chained-9451088.html">A pregnant Sudanese woman sentenced to death for refusing to renounce her Christianity was forced to give birth in prison with her legs shackled</a>. The 27-year-old doctor was convicted of apostasy and adultery and sentenced to death by a court in Khartoum after refusing to renounce her Christian faith during a four day ‘grace period’ while she was eight months pregnant. [The Independent]</p>
<p dir="ltr">• <a href="http://www.theroot.com/blogs/the_grapevine/2014/05/lupita_nyong_o_options_film_rights_to_chimamanda_ngozi_adichie_s_americanah.html">Lupita Nyong has optioned the rights to <em>Americanah</em></a>, one of the 10 Best Books of the year last year, according to the <em>New York Times Book Review</em>. The love story centers on a young man and woman from Nigeria “who face difficult choices and challenges in the countries they come to call home.” We’re looking forward to seeing how the project develops. [The Root]</p>
<p dir="ltr">• This week, <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/victoria/mother-wants-answers-after-teenage-daughters-armpits-were-shaved-by-teacher-20140529-396jg.html">a teenage girl in Australia had her armpits forcibly shaved by her school teacher in front of several other students</a>. The teacher claimed it was part of the schools’ “life-skills curriculum.” The girl’s mother is fighting back, saying that this “invaded her daughter's rights as a person.” [Sydney Morning Herald]</p>
<p dir="ltr">• <em>Orange is the New Black</em> star <a href="http://colorlines.com/archives/2014/05/laverne_cox_makes_history_on_the_cover_of_time.html">Laverne Cox made history this week by being the first transgender person to be featured on the cover of <em>Time</em> magazine</a>. Cox tweeted a thank you to fans, whom she credits for pressuring the magazine with #whereislavernecox after it snubbed her for the Time 100 list. [Colorlines]</p>
<p dir="ltr">• Unfortunately, the fight for transgender rights is just beginning. <a href="http://roygbiv.jezebel.com/trans-women-assaulted-on-train-one-stripped-passenger-1582963179/+burtreynoldsismyspiritguide1">Two transgender women were assaulted on Atlanta’s public transit system this week</a>. The assaults were recorded on multiple cell phones while bystanders did nothing to help them. Transit cops refused to write a report when the women asked for help. Just awful. [Jezebel]</p>
<p>• Siren, poet, and inspiration Neko Case, reminded us this week why she’s amazing. <a href="http://bullettmedia.com/article/neko-case-perfect-response-playboys-condescending-review/"><em>Playboy</em> magazine thought they were giving Case’s latest album a positive review by saying that it transcends the “gender divide</a> in love songs” and then tweeting that Case was “breaking the mold of what women should be in the music industry.” Case’s response: “<a href="https://twitter.com/PlayboyDotCom">@PlayboyDotCom</a> Am I? IM NOT A FUCKING “WOMAN IN MUSIC”, IM A FUCKING MUSICIAN IN MUSIC!” If you’re not following her already, you might want to start. [Bullet]</p>
<p><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3735/14119809920_d9e86e3ac9_z.jpg" alt="Laverne Cox on the cover of Time magazine" height="640" width="640" /></p>
http://bitchmagazine.org/post/on-our-radar-feminist-news-roundup-189#commentsLupita Nyong'oNeko Caseplayboyprisonssexual assaulttransgenderNewsFri, 30 May 2014 16:38:39 +0000Erica Thomas26260 at http://bitchmagazine.orgSeven Great New Songs Released This Monthhttp://bitchmagazine.org/post/august-great-new-music-round-up-beyonce-ebony-bones-neko-case
<p><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7370/9611669908_c8da179731.jpg" alt="Ebony Bones, wearing a fancy top hat, surrounded by shirtless men" width="500" height="375" /></p>
<p><em>Photo: Ebony Bones and friends (via <a href="https://myspace.com/ebonybones" target="_blank">Myspace</a>).&nbsp;</em></p>
<p>My favorite songs released this August are tinged with the mellow, warm sounds of summer. They make me want to roll down the windows and enjoy the last set of tunes before scarf-weather settles in.&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>Neko Case, "Night Still Comes" off <em>The Worse Things Get, the Harder I Fight, The Harder I Fight, the More I Love You</em>.</strong><br /><br />As a songwriter, <a href="http://www.nekocase.com/presale.php" target="_blank">Neko Case</a> has always seemed to lack a brain-to-mouth filter; she's relentlessly honest, and strange, and true to herself. The mainstream popularity of her music, particularly 2009's <a href="http://therumpus.net/2013/01/albums-of-our-lives-neko-cases-middle-cyclone/" target="_blank"><em>Middle Cyclone</em>,</a>&nbsp;has been hard-earned, but feels (happily) incidental. She'd be writing these songs no matter who was listening. Lucky for us, EVERYONE is listening. <em>The Worse Things Get...</em>&nbsp;was announced in tandem with the release of its first single, the rollicking, gender-fucking "Man," which critics tripped over themselves to adore. Case has never sounded more urgent, and she's never rocked harder. Her determination to assert her lens on the world is radical in its urgency is particularly acute on the completely radio-unfriendly "Nearly Midnight, Honolulu," an uncomfortably personal, but necessary, missive to a survivor of child abuse. Overshares are part and parcel to a Neko Case record, which is how she's built a fan base that trusts her implicitly. This new record is all about letting listeners in deeper, showing them more. The last 30 minutes of <em>Middle Cyclone</em> was an ambient recording of the woods around Case's Vermont farmhouse. The last five seconds of <em>The Worse Things Get...</em> is one of Case's cats meowing into a microphone. The metaphor is remarkable: We've been invited in from outside.</p>
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<p><em>The Worse Things Get...</em> is available September 3.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>Ebony Bones, "I See, I Say" off <em>Behold, A Pale Horse&nbsp;</em></strong><br /><br /><a href="https://myspace.com/ebonybones" target="_blank">Ebony Bones</a> is a game-changer. Her flamboyant, genre-exploding music can only be experienced at a screaming run; even if you sit still to listen, you'll travel. As if her throaty, arresting voice weren't enough, she's her own producer, too. <em>Behold, A Pale Horse</em> is downright exciting to listen to. Every sample, every sound used in this busy, funky collection is surprising, and more masterful for knowing Ebony Bones was in charge of all of it. If you're not too busy dancing, listen to her lyrics, which are heavier than they seem, and if you're spending all your time listening to the lyrics, get up and dance. This record doesn't stay in one place, and its audience likely won't either.</p>
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</embed></object></p><p><span><a href="http://soundcloud.com/ebonybones/i-see-i-say">I SEE, I SAY</a> by <a href="http://soundcloud.com/ebonybones">Ebony Bones</a></span></p>
<p><em>Behold, A Pale Horse</em> was released August 5th.<br /><br /></p>
<p><strong>Lorde, "Royals" off <em>Pure Heroine</em></strong><br /><br />This summer was dominated by royals. For some, it was a pretty British couple who had an intimidatingly named baby. For me, it was a song by a 16-year-old New Zealander with no ties to the throne. While my compulsive listening may have surpassed the norm, I certainly wasn't alone in naming "Royals" the jam of the summer—two weeks ago, <a href="http://www.last.fm/music/Lorde" target="_blank">Lorde</a> became the first woman in 17 years to top the Billboard Alternative Radio Chart. Her first full-length record comes out at the end of September, she's selling out every show she's booking stateside, and I continue to hope dearly that Kate Middleton locks herself in her extremely well-stocked closet sometimes and puts this song on her headphones.</p>
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<p><em>Pure Heroine</em> comes out September 30.<br /><br /></p>
<p><strong>Steel Cranes, "Boat Song" off <em>Ouroboros</em></strong><br /><br />Oakland duo <a href="http://steelcranesband.com/" target="_blank">Steel Cranes</a> provides exactly the right kind of heavy, noisy rock for the dying days of summer. They shred, but they're not frantic. Their sound lacks any pretense whatsoever, offering raw, relentless power instead. Of "Boat Song," the first single from the band's forthcoming debut album, drummer Amanda Schukle has this to say: "We recorded it in one take. It's a bit of controlled chaos, like being just on the verge of falling over a cliff, but pulling back at the last minute." My hope for Steel Cranes is that, no matter how famous they're about to be, they don't lose the sense of loud, gritty fun in which their first few singles are drenched.</p>
<p><object width="100%" height="81">
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</embed></object></p><p><span><a href="http://soundcloud.com/fanaticpro/steel-cranes-boat-song">Steel Cranes - Boat Song</a> by <a href="http://soundcloud.com/fanaticpro">FanaticPromotion</a></span></p>
<p>You can find <em>Ouroboros</em> on bandcamp on September 24.<br /><br /></p>
<p><strong>Beyonce, "Grown Woman"</strong><br /><br />Remember when "Grown Woman" leaked a few weeks ago and then disappeared after like three days and then this awesome remix got released instead? Me too.</p>
<p><iframe width="100%" height="166" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F101706688"></iframe></p>
<p>Release date? Album title? HA! #beypatient<br /><br /></p>
<p><strong>MEN, "All the Way Thru" off <em>Labor</em></strong><br /><br /><a href="http://www.menmakemusic.com/" target="_blank">MEN</a> have been <a href="/post/jd-samson" target="_blank">favorites around the <em>Bitch</em> office for years</a>, so our delight upon hearing the Brooklyn electro-pop trio will release a new album in the fall was about as impossible to contain as the energy in any of MEN's songs. Former Le Tigre member JD Samson is the band's irresistible frontperson, backed by Tami Hart and Michael O'Neil, and together the trio make music and performance art that expand discussions of gender, identity, sexuality IN ADDITION TO making us dance. Your move, Top 40.</p>
<p><object width="100%" height="81">
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</embed></object></p><p><span><a href="http://soundcloud.com/menmakemusic/all-the-way-thru">All The Way Thru</a> by <a href="http://soundcloud.com/menmakemusic">JD Samson &amp; MEN</a></span></p>
<p><em>Labor</em> will be released this fall.</p>
<p><br /><strong>Typhoon, "Young Fathers" off <em>White Lighter</em></strong></p>
<p>Portland's 12-17 member band&nbsp;<a href="http://www.wearetyphoon.com/" target="_blank">Typhoon</a> is taking flight. Each of their albums find the group tighter, more technically skilled, and more complex as songwriters. This summer's <em>White Lighter</em>, which I think will be the album that delivers them to the world on a silver platter, finds Typhoon waxing hipster poetic (I mean that as a compliment—the band knows its way around a sublimely twee harmony) about what it means to grow up and examine the lives of our parents as peers. Songwriter Kyle Morton has the weight of the world on his twentysomething shoulders, and he's developing into a master of expressing his generation's particular simpler-time nostalgia and wariness of the future.</p>
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<p><em>White Lighter</em> came out August 20.</p>
<p>Looking for good music? Check out <a href="/post/b-sides-five-new-releases-from-women-who-rock" target="_blank">July's roundup of five new feminist songs</a>. &nbsp;</p>
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http://bitchmagazine.org/post/august-great-new-music-round-up-beyonce-ebony-bones-neko-case#commentsb-sidesBeyonceebony boneslordeNeko CaseTyphoonMusicTue, 27 Aug 2013 22:16:07 +0000Katie Presley23928 at http://bitchmagazine.orgB-Sides: Five Great New Feminist Songs http://bitchmagazine.org/post/b-sides-five-new-releases-from-women-who-rock
<p><img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3767/9324604632_8a9025a3cf_z.jpg" alt="Neko Case with text: &quot;Hell Yeah, Feminist Music!&quot;" height="320" width="640" /></p>
<p>Top 40 music seems to be undergoing a sea change lately. Cher has a&nbsp;<a title="It's a Cher's world" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GElt81DKhZI" target="_blank">feminist song</a>&nbsp;on the radio and in the club. Neko Case is taking&nbsp;<a title="What Kind of Animal?" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unNa-9qGkfI" target="_blank">gender identity</a>&nbsp;straight to task.&nbsp;<a title="An Open Letter" href="http://frankocean.tumblr.com/image/26473798723" target="_blank">Frank Ocean</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a title="Damn Right I Support It" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlVBg7_08n0" target="_blank">Macklemore</a>&nbsp;are topping the charts with songs that carve space for queer-friendly voices in the machismo-drenched worlds of R&amp;B and hip-hop. Ann Powers at NPR declared 2013 "<a title="To 2013 AND BEYOND!" href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/therecord/2013/06/06/188997881/country-musics-year-of-the-woman" target="_blank">Country Music's Year of the Woman</a>," and Jewly Hight at the Nashville Scene <a title="Honky Tonk Angels, Men in Trucks" href="http://www.nashvillescene.com/nashville/unpacking-the-audible-divide-between-countrys-solo-women-and-men/Content?oid=2858080" target="_self">pointed out a similar trend</a>&nbsp;last year,&nbsp;of female artists whose sounds still fit the country genre, but whose lyrics and personae push the boundaries of country femininity.</p>
<p>All of this points to something big: It's been a good year for not only women in music, but&nbsp;<em>feminism</em>&nbsp;in music.</p>
<p>None of the women listed below are Top 40 fodder, but their recent releases are part of this same trend. &nbsp;Here are five recent releases from one of hopefully many Years of the Woman to come.</p>
<p><strong>1. Betse Ellis: High Moon Order</strong></p>
<p>All of the press I've read surrounding Missouri-based fiddler <a title="Mind-crazed Banjo" href="http://fiddlebetse.com/" target="_blank">Betse Ellis's</a> latest solo release uses some form of the words "kickass or "badass." I think those words are a little redundant, but what folks probably mean when they say "kickass" is "plays the shit out of her instrument." And that would be correct. <strong>&nbsp;</strong>Ellis plays an intense, visceral fiddle in the rural Ozark style, at stark odds with her classical training. And she plays it very compellingly. Her singing voice even sounds like a fiddle on her cover of The Clash's "Straight to Hell." Here she is playing <strong>"</strong>Straight to Hell" solo on St. Louis's KDHX:</p>
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<p><strong>2. Paula Cole: Raven</strong></p>
<p>Yes, <a title="I DON'T WANNT WAIT" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Htv9WDItIgA" target="_blank">that</a> <a title="Where Have All the Cowboys Gone? ANSWERED. " href="http://paulacole.com/" target="_blank">Paula Cole</a>. After one album's worth of mega-90s stardom, plus the third-ever Grammy nomination for a woman "Producer of the Year" in 1997, Cole dropped out of the mainstream to raise her daughter and release several albums to less fanfare (and pressure). Not that the industry seemed to understand to her all that much when she was ubiquitous; she famously sang about gender double standards ("Where Have All the Cowboys Gone"), almost just-as-famously didn't shave, and called herself the "<a title="Rage On" href="http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1998-02-10/features/1998041108_1_paula-cole-cole-admits-cowboys" target="_blank">most raging feminist</a> of the whole [Lilith Fair] bunch" in 1998, when Girl Power<sup>TM</sup>&nbsp;was the <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/38786.stm" target="_blank">way much of America thought about gender politics</a>. Cole's latest release, funded by Kickstarter and released independently, finds Cole singing frankly feminist songs about women accepting themselves ("Strong, Beautiful Woman"), lady-centric eroticism ("Secretary"), and struggling in the domestic sphere ("Life Goes On"). Her voice is stronger now than it was in the 90s ("Manitoba" is a vocal highlight), and she sounds like a musician in control of her message, her voice, and her career. Here's the video for the first single, "Eloise."</p>
<object width="560" height="315"><param name="movie" value="//www.youtube.com/v/cpsa9VZd7Vc?version=3&amp;hl=en_US&amp;rel=0" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><embed src="//www.youtube.com/v/cpsa9VZd7Vc?version=3&amp;hl=en_US&amp;rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="560" height="315" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object><p><strong>3. Patty Griffin: American Kid</strong></p>
<p>It's not especially easy, or even really advisable, to write songs from the perspective of a gender other than yours. Results usually vary from appropriation to <a title="The shape of her body: unusual!" href="http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/train/meetvirginia.html" target="_self">condescension</a>;&nbsp;only rarely does an artist find the sweet spot of conjecture and compassion needed to gender bend. Anaïs Mitchell did a gorgeous job last year with <a title="I'm a Young Man" href="/post/b-sides-ana%C3%AFs-mitchell-feminist-music-album-review" target="_blank"><em>Young Man in America</em></a>, and singer/songwriter <a title="I Am Not a Bad Man" href="http://www.pattygriffin.com/" target="_blank">Patty Griffin</a> joins the light side with her June release <em>American Kid</em>. Like Mitchell's eponymous Young Man, Griffin's Kid chartacter is centered on her father (the album was written as he was dying), and explores the secret worlds of his mind as both told in stories and imagined from photographs. Griffin's music has always been hard to categorize (Americana/folk/country/gospel is a small sampling), but has never been anything less than stellar in any genre. Her father's tumultuous life story sounds exactly right sung in his daughter's stark, room-silencing voice<strong>. </strong>My Album of the Year already. Calling it. See the video for the record's first single, "Ohio," a duet with Robert Plant, below: &nbsp; &nbsp;</p>
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<p><strong>4. Dessa: Parts of Speech</strong></p>
<p>Every <a title="Dessa Darling" href="http://www.doomtree.net/dessa/" target="_blank">Dessa</a> album is different, but the Minneapolis rapper, writer, poet, and spoken word artist's vision has never changed. Her second full-length album was an orchestral re-imagining of her production-heavy first, and her third album—last month's <em>Parts of Speech—</em>was previewed on her second. <em>Parts of Speech</em> finds Dessa singing as much as she raps, which gives her music warmth and smoothness that didn't exist in her earlier collaborations with Doomtree, the underground hip-hop collective where she got her start. Her lyrics deal with the same themes as most hip-hop: anger, sadness, ambition, love, lust—LIFE, in other words—but she completely avoids devolving into superficiality or obscenity to make her points. Hip-hop always needs whatever Dessa says next. Here's the video for "Call Off Your Ghost":</p>
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<p><strong>5. Scout Niblett: It's Up to Emma</strong></p>
<p>"Haunting" is a word often used to describe music, and it works for Portland multi-instrumentalist Scout Niblett. But a better one would be haunt<em>ed</em>. Her guitar and drum playing are cavernous<strong>, </strong>and instead of being filled by her gripping vocals, the open space they create is amplified. The songs on "It's Up to Emma" are drenched in regret, anger, memory, and general gravitas. Her cover of TLC's "<a title="No, she does not want your number." href="http://soundcloud.com/variouseggs/sets/scout-niblett-its-up-to-emma/" target="_blank">No Scrubs</a>" cuts out the original's humor and instead injects it with gravelly dismissal. Below is the video for the final song on the disc, the violent, unnerving revenge narrative "Gun."</p>
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<p>What new releases have you been listening to lately? Let us know in the comments!</p>
<p>Listen to OVER 100 <a href="http://8tracks.com/bitchtapes" target="_blank"><em>Bitch</em>-made mixtapes of great artists and tunes at 8 Track's BitchTapes</a>.</p>
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http://bitchmagazine.org/post/b-sides-five-new-releases-from-women-who-rock#commentsmusicNeko Casepaula colewomen in musicMusicFri, 19 Jul 2013 22:43:29 +0000Katie Presley23474 at http://bitchmagazine.orgPreacher's Daughter: Are There Progressive and Feminist Voices in Country?http://bitchmagazine.org/post/preachers-daughter-the-queering-of-country
<p>A couple of commenters have raised questions about progressiveness in country music. Today, I want to suggest that there <em>are</em> progressive voices, at least in Americana, roots, and alt country music, but those voices are limited. They are <em>almost </em>always white, and usually populist and male. There are a few women in country who arguably identify as feminists. None of these artists are evangelical Christians like some major label country musicians, but faith imagery permeates much of their songwriting. It is often used in visions of a Utopian future, or it takes on a perverse meaning.</p>
<p>One songwriter in the genre, Lucinda Williams, <a title="&quot;Interview: Lucinda Williams,&quot; Chicago Pride" href="http://chicago.gopride.com/news/interview.cfm/articleid/106384" target="_blank">has said</a>, "I consider myself a feminist who is very interested in the politics of relationships." But she also deals with collective social behavior. Her song, "<a title="&quot;Atonement&quot; lyrics" href="http://www.songlyrics.com/lucinda-williams/atonement-lyrics/" target="_blank">Atonement</a>," covers religious coercion in an abusive pentecostal church:</p>
<p><iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/79vOBga6NBQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>Country musicians with a liberal-populist perspective are nothing new. Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, and Kris Kristofferson brought this sensibility to country music as individual stars and, later, as members of soupergroup, The Highwaymen. All maintained an anti-establishment perspective called Outlaw Country.</p>
<p>Many men continue in this tradition, which often celebrates a deeply masculine ideal. John Fogerty has written songs that seem to embody the masculine Outlaw Counrty sensibility since he started with Creedence Clearwater Revival. And his 2008 solo track, "<a title="&quot;Gunslinger&quot; lyrics" href="http://www.songlyrics.com/john-fogerty/gunslinger-lyrics/" target="_blank">Gunslinger</a>," is a good example: "<em>I think we need a gunslinger/Somebody tough to tame this town/I think we need a gunslinger/There'll be justice all around</em>."</p>
<p><iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/csXONZqCJgY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>This music often celebrates working-class folk heroes like John Henry, said to be a former slave and steel-driver who led his work crew to out-race steam-powered rail. In "<a title="&quot;Looking for a Job&quot; music video" href="http://youtu.be/lmCrU_RjoZg" target="_blank">Looking for a Job</a>," Todd Snider rails against abusive employers: "<em>You can't talk to me like that, boss/I don't care who you are/If you don't want to have to hang your own drywall/Don't push me too far</em>."</p>
<p>Steve Earle combines working class sentiment with anti-war critique, as on 2004's "<a title="&quot;Rich Man's War&quot; audio and lyrics" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjT6B6IFUU8" target="_blank">Rich Man's War</a>," which characterizes both a US soldier and a Palestinian suicide bomber as "<em>just another poor boy off to fight a rich man's war</em>." Earle's 2002 track, "<a title="&quot;Jerusalem&quot; audio" href="http://youtu.be/8rI40bBKuVc" target="_blank">Jerusalem</a>," deploys religious imagery as commentary on the Palestine/Israel conflict, looking forward to another day when "<em>all the children of Abraham will lay down their swords forever in Jerusalem</em>."</p>
<p>But what about feminist voices in this music? There <em>are</em> some. For example, Neko Case's 2002 track, "<a title="&quot;Pretty Girls&quot; lyrics" href="http://www.songmeanings.net/songs/view/3530822107858500454/" target="_blank">Pretty Girls</a>," casts the punitive religion of anti-choice protesters and media against young girls waiting alone for abortions in a Planned Parenthood clinic: "<em>The TV is blaring and angry/As if you don't know why you're here/Those who walk without sin are so hungry/Don't let wolves in, pretty girls</em>."</p>
<p><iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/9yYRwUiNmy0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>And the animated music video for 2009's "People Got a Lotta Nerve," suggests that the <a title="&quot;People Got a Lotta Nerve&quot; lyrics" href="http://www.nekocase.com/lyrics/mc03.htm" target="_blank">lyric</a>, "<em>I'm a man man man man man maneater</em>," does not use the term in the traditional anti-feminist sense. It's a warning against toying with wild animals, and perhaps metaphorically, at least, against toying with people:</p>
<p><iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/zXl870NoF4E" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>Anaïs Mitchell is a lesser-known artist whose 2010 release, <em>Hadestown</em>, deploys the vocals of Justin Vernon (of Bon Iver), Greg Brown, Ani Difranco and others. The sweeping "folk opera" is based on the Orpheus and Eurydice myth. It combines different Americana and country styles and serves as commentary on contemporary issues like US immigration, working class struggle, religiously motivated bigotry and yes, gender politics.</p>
<p>"Gone, I'm Gone" is a short song about the sacrifice and suffering that love brings. It opens with a plea voicing Eurydice's devotion, but laments her physical suffering and hunger. Ultimately, she has no choice but to descend into the underworld. As she goes, a trio of Fates <a title="&quot;Gone I'm Gone&quot; lyrics" href="http://www.songlyrics.com/anais-mitchell/gone-i-m-gone-lyrics/" target="_blank">warns the audience</a> against judging Eurydice: "<em>Go ahead and lay the blame/Talk of virtue, talk of sin/Wouldn't you have done the same?/In her shoes, in her skin</em>."</p>
<p><iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/46-JekEZjUI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>The music also comments on the challenges that Persephone faces as the abducted queen of the underworld. "<a title="&quot;Our Lady of the Underground&quot; lyrics" href="http://www.songlyrics.com/anais-mitchell/our-lady-of-the-underground-lyrics/" target="_blank">Our Lady of the Underground</a>," voiced by Ani Difranco, emphasizes Persephone's power as well as her limitations:</p>
<p><iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/-7YKDgkVWvo" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>Persephone's oppression is further explored in the <a title="&quot;How Long&quot; lyrics" href="http://www.songlyrics.com/anais-mitchell/how-long-lyrics/" target="_blank">exchange</a> she has with Hades (voiced by Greg Brown) in "<a title="&quot;How Long&quot; audio, embedding was disabled on YouTube" href="http://youtu.be/vkz0JfcTeC0" target="_blank">How Long</a>."</p>
<p>And my favorite song on the album, "Why We Build the Wall" is a haunting call-and-response number about labor and isolationism in the underworld and the US:</p>
<p><iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/iAgiK07Py9M" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>There are other examples of feminism in roots music, but fewer examples of queer representation in the genre, or people of color. The next post will cover some of the identities that are so often excluded from this tradition. First, I'll offer analysis of the work of the Carolina Chocolate Drops, black performers who in some ways push against white supremacy by transforming the traditionally racist music of minstrelsy. I'll also highlight some lesbian artists who are breaking through in the genre without being relegated to the realm of stereotypical "Lilith Fair music."</p>
http://bitchmagazine.org/post/preachers-daughter-the-queering-of-country#commentsabortionanti-choiceanti-warcountry musicliberalliberal dudesmythologyNeko Casepro-lifereligionSocial JusticeThe BibleMusicFri, 07 Oct 2011 18:46:19 +0000Kristin Rawls13040 at http://bitchmagazine.orgPreacher's Daughter: Alt Country: Murder, Addiction, and the Southern Gothic Soulhttp://bitchmagazine.org/post/alt-country-and-the-down-and-out-southern-gothic-female-soul
<p>We can't discuss construction of femininity in country music without talking about alt country. Alt country (short for "alternative country") music very often traffics in a narrative sub-genre called Southern Gothic, which generally includes a plethora of dark, down and out characters: prisoners, murderers, executioners, addicts, drunks, and sinners. These are tales of horror and survival. They are often punctuated by pleas for supernatural intervention—well, either that or a sense that the characters are bound for hell and have been abandoned by god. And ghosts. So-called "fallen women" and "women done wrong" often figure prominently in this music, offset by abusive and/or addicted men.</p>
<p>The Drive-By Truckers have always explored such themes. "The Fireplace Poker," a track from their 2011 release, <em>Go-Go Boots</em>, has a particularly fascinating take on these them. It's the story of an evangelical preacher who "<em>had his wife done in/By a guy I knew in high school</em>" (Here's <a title="&quot;The Fireplace Poker&quot; live video" href="http://youtu.be/L98iGpnrKuE" target="_blank">live audio</a> plus <a title="&quot;The Fireplace Poker&quot; lyrics" href="http://www.songlyrics.com/drive-by-truckers/the-fireplace-poker-lyrics/" target="_blank">lyrics</a>.). Here's songwriter Patterson Hood's take on it. He says, "<em>In another life, I might've been one of those people who write noir books...or direct noir movies, but instead I play in a noir band</em>."</p>
<p><iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ukR_e-Fps74" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>I'll get into music that pushes against some of the stereotypes in a future post, but first I want to be clear that alt country, like commercial country, has its own share of tropes about women. It's just that they happen to be different than <a href="/post/preachers-daughter-country-music-and-the-construction-of-femininity"target="_blank">those upheld by major label country artists</a> like Miranda Lambert.</p>
<p>I'm from North Carolina; it's hard to grow up here and not get the impression that this is the stuff of everyday life. As a pastor, my dad counted "Black Widow" serial killer <a title="&quot;The Blanche Taylor Moore Story&quot; review" href="http://articles.latimes.com/1993-05-03/entertainment/ca-30579_1_widow-blanche-taylor-moore" target="_blank">Blanche Taylor Moore</a> as an acquaintance; they met through her last husband, a fellow pastor.</p>
<p>But the abuse and murder of women is more common. A number of <a title="'Husband Admits Murdering Wife in 2002&quot;" href="http://www.wwaytv3.com/2011/04/06/husband-admits-murdering-wife-2002" target="_blank">high-profile</a> <a title="&quot;Husband Surrenders, Confesses Estranged Wife's Murder&quot;" href="http://www.wsoctv.com/news/22972205/detail.html" target="_blank">cases</a> of <a title="&quot;Court Rules Against Michael Peterson&quot;" href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14907872/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/t/court-rules-against-novelist-michael-peterson/" target="_self">women killed</a> at <a title="&quot;Police: Husband Stabs Wife to Death&quot;" href="http://www.wcti12.com/news/28791147/detail.html" target="_blank">the hands</a> of <a title="&quot;NC Husband Oews $15.6M in Wife's Murder&quot;" href="http://abcnews.go.com/US/nc-husband-owes-156m-wifes-murder/story?id=7102646&amp;page=3" target="_blank">their husbands</a> <a title="&quot;Husband of Slain NC Woman Charged with Murder&quot;" href="http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-10-27-431868022_x.htm" target="_blank">have rocked</a> the state in recent years. And "The Fireplace Poker" is based on an Alabama murder, but this <em>very same thing</em> happened to the preacher's wife in a church that one of my friends grew up in.</p>
<p>I am not sure what this says about me, but I love the dark themes that infuse Southern Gothic narratives. Alt country is one of my favorite genres, at least in part because it explores the most frightening vestiges of the human soul (I also like the pedal steel). In my defense, "Deep Red Bells" was my favorite Neko Case song <em>before</em> I learned that it was about the Green River murders* (<a title="&quot;Deep Red Bells&quot; lyrics " href="http://www.songmeanings.net/songs/view/3530822107858578893/" target="_blank">lyrics</a>):</p>
<p><iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/L4xbSPW6FF8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>Then there's addiction. Though major label music tends to explore alcoholism within the "white trash" framework of country music tropes, it is much more devastating in Southern Gothic music, often involving domestic violence and premature death. Former Drive-By Trucker Jason Isbell frequently explores these themes, as in his 2007 ballad, "<a title="&quot;Razor Town&quot; lyrics" href="http://www.songmeanings.net/songs/view/3530822107858675945/" target="_blank">Razor Town</a>" (lyrics):</p>
<p><iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/yY00UN1PbNk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>Or his more recent "Codeine" (<a title="&quot;Codeine&quot; lyrics" href="http://www.songmeanings.net/songs/view/3530822107858870159/" target="_blank">lyrics</a>):</p>
<p><iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/4V_vBPaI1d0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>The first is about a heterosexual relationship in which a woman is in recovery from past abuse: "<em>You know I've heard her say/That you're the only reason she's alive today</em>." And "Codeine" is the first person account of a co-dependent, addictive relationship on the outs.</p>
<p>Tales of addiction and co-dependency permeate much of this music, as do first-person accounts about the inaccessibility of redemption. Mary Gautheir captures all of these without relying on tropes or stereotypes. This is partly because she writes autobiographically. So, as a lesbian, she's not covering romantic fallings-out with men who "done her wrong." And as a recovering addict and native of New Orleans, she perhaps knows these familiar themes more intimately than some. But I think it's mostly because she's a beautiful poet.</p>
<p>"<a title="&quot;Same Road&quot; lyrics" href="http://www.songlyrics.com/mary-gauthier/same-road-lyrics/" target="_blank">Same Road</a>" captures it all: addiction, lost love, the unattainability of redemption. "<em>When you flirt with the shadows/Darkness snakes under your skin...I know you see it in my eyes/I know you know where I've been/The same road that brought me to you/Is gonna carry me away</em>."</p>
<p>And here's "<a title="&quot;Can't Find the Way&quot; lyrics" href="http://www.songlyrics.com/mary-gauthier/can-t-find-the-way-lyrics/" target="_blank">Can't Find the Way</a>," which I think is about the loss of homes both material and spiritual. It's about looking for redemption by going back home, except that home isn't there anymore. It's a New Orleans-specific take on a Southern Gothic theme that has been intrinsic to the genre since novelist Thomas Wolfe wrote <em>You Can't Go Home Again</em>:</p>
<p><iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/6m1TnIEijMU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>It's hard to hear the plaintive cry, "<em>I wanna go home/But I can't find the way</em>," without actually weeping. And then there's "<a title="&quot;Mama Here, Mama Gone&quot; lyrics" href="http://www.songlyrics.com/mary-gauthier/mama-here-mama-gone-lyrics/" target="_blank">Mama Here, Mama Gone</a>," from Gauthier's most recent LP. It covers a sad sense of rootlessness that comes with the loss of a mother: "<em>Bassinets and babies, St. Vincent's infant home/Orphaned in limbo, helpless and alone/Paradise receding, paradise withdrawn/A tiny heart is beating/Mama here, mama gone</em>":</p>
<p><iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/7m7o0RJSosQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>The themes I've discussed here are, for better or worse, the heart and soul of alt country music. Murder, death, addiction, spiritual struggle, hard knocks, and basic survival. And I guess I have a dark soul too, 'cause I find this—and the blues—the most spiritually satisfying of any genre. Some of it echoes <a title="Gillian Welch and David Rawlings cover &quot;Wind and Rain,&quot; an Appalachian song believed preserved from England in its original form" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5DeY3H1oaU" target="_blank">very old songs</a> about the murder of women. Sometimes, as in the music of the Drive-By Truckers and Jason Isbell, women are tragic and desperate. And I hear something true at least to my Southern experience in the work of songwriters like Mary Gauthier and a dozen others I could name. I hate it when people generalize about the South, but if I had to pick one generalization, I'd tell you this: Surival, whether material or spiritual, looms large in the popular imagination.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>*The Green River Killer operated around the Seattle area. Case, however, is an alt country artist, and one need not tell a story located in the South to explore Southern Gothic themes.</p>
http://bitchmagazine.org/post/alt-country-and-the-down-and-out-southern-gothic-female-soul#commentsaddictionalternativehomehomelessindependent musicKatrinaNeko Casethe southworking classMusicThu, 06 Oct 2011 19:55:38 +0000Kristin Rawls13035 at http://bitchmagazine.orgMusic Matters: Singing My Life Back To Mehttp://bitchmagazine.org/post/music-matters-singing-my-life-back-to-me
<object width="560" height="340"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/_FhVbyeWFvo?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US&amp;color1=0xcc2550&amp;color2=0xe87a9f" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/_FhVbyeWFvo?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US&amp;color1=0xcc2550&amp;color2=0xe87a9f" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"></embed></object><p>(Neko Case, "This Tornado Loves You," <a href="http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/n/neko_case/this_tornado_loves_you.html">lyrics here</a>.)</p>
<p>I can't sing.</p>
<p>When I was a kid, I wound up in chorus rather than regular music classes by dint of having been in theater—which of course in elementary school is always musical theater for some reason. I got doubly screwed by this, actually—the chorus teacher couldn't be bothered to actually help me learn to sing better, so he'd just tell me to mouth the words on notes I couldn't reach (you know, most of them). </p>
<p>So I blame him for my undeveloped acting talents. But I digress (often)!</p>
<p>I still love to sing, and the one thing that I really miss about my car, which I sold when I moved to New York for work, is having a place to sing without an audience. I miss cranking up the volume and belting whatever it was that I was listening to, no one there to hear me, not even able to hear myself. </p>
<p>It doesn't have the same effect in an echoing apartment, and the dog tends to look at me funny. </p>
<p>I've replaced singing along with the car radio with dancing to my headphones in elevators, hallways, and even in my office when I happen to be the only one there in the evenings. But I still wish I could sing. </p>
<p>In that way that some people (read: me) obsessively decide which three wishes they'd choose if they had three wishes, I have considered carefully whose voice I would want if some fairy godmother appeared and granted me the power to actually not sound like a squawking turkey when I sing. The choice gets tougher, though, between the top two.</p>
<p>For years and years, it was Fiona Apple alone that I wanted to sound like. I remember when she blew onto the scene in the 90s, this skinny girl with this giant voice that sounded like every bit of energy and weight she had had gone into constructing it. "Shadowboxer" and then "Criminal" were these giant things, these world-weary beauties of songs that spoke of years of pain and aching that this twig of a teenager could never have experienced, right? </p>
<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/FRv4VQra2kc?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US&amp;color1=0xcc2550&amp;color2=0xe87a9f" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/FRv4VQra2kc?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US&amp;color1=0xcc2550&amp;color2=0xe87a9f" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><p>(Fiona Apple, "Criminal," with lyrics in video. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFOzayDpWoI">Original video here</a>, for those who still love it.)</p>
<p>I loved to sing along with "Criminal" well before I'd ever broken anyone's heart. There's a strange power in the apology in that song that I wanted to have—the power to break someone, a power I thought at that age I'd never have. I'm older now and I know better and yet I still love to sing along to it. </p>
<p>I like deep voices on men and women, it's true. Maybe because I could never reach the high notes, so I like to sing along with people who are in my range, but also because the weight of them fills me with something strange and beautiful, in a way no reedy-voiced indie rocker or trilling pop starlet can.</p>
<p>I don't remember exactly when I discovered Neko Case, but I do remember that I was living in South Carolina again and I bought <em>The Tigers Have Spoken</em> unheard and from the first strains of "If You Knew" I was hooked. Here was a big voice, country-tinged and always just a little mournful but booming and light at the same time. </p>
<p>I discovered Neko solo first and I still can't listen to the New Pornographers as much because it just isn't enough of her. I want that voice front and center, and I want to sing along.</p>
<p>And so it was Neko's voice for a while, until Fiona came back with the right cross that was <em>Extraordinary Machine</em>, a grown woman's breakup record and just what I needed at that particular moment. Fiona was there for me when I was a teenager, but she's grown up too and she and Neko have more, richer, deeper meanings for me now than they ever did. </p>
<p>So I go back and forth, channel one and then the other, and if Neko has the unfair advantage of releasing more records in that period of time then Fiona gets the benefit of every rumor and YouTube video (like the one below) carrying triple the weight. So the rumor of a new album coming in 2011 has me thrilled and planning ways to land an interview (I am available, editors! I have nothing BUT time if you want me to speak to Fiona Apple and write about it!). </p>
<p>I might even have to borrow a car, to drive around in and sing along. </p>
<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/zPJgHgiUPO4?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US&amp;color1=0xcc2550&amp;color2=0xe87a9f" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/zPJgHgiUPO4?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US&amp;color1=0xcc2550&amp;color2=0xe87a9f" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object><p>(Fiona Apple, "So Sleepy," 2010 one-off, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPJgHgiUPO4">lyrics here</a>)</p>
http://bitchmagazine.org/post/music-matters-singing-my-life-back-to-me#commentsCountrycriminalFiona Appleif you knewNeko Casenew pornographerspopsingingso sleepysongsthis tornado loves youvoicevoicesMusicMon, 22 Nov 2010 19:08:50 +0000Sarah Jaffe7004 at http://bitchmagazine.orgTuning In: Neko Case as Cheyenne Cinnamonhttp://bitchmagazine.org/post/neko-case-as-cheyenne-cinnamon
<p><img src=http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4021/4504742604_6b8fc3694d_o.jpg /></p>
<p>Adult Swim recently co-sponsored the Big, Über Network Sampling contest with Burger King. Pilots competed for airtime and <em>Cheyenne Cinnamon and the Fantabulous Unicorn of Sugar Town Candy Fudge</em> was chosen the winner. <em>Cheyenne</em> was created by Dave Willis, who was also behind Adult Swim staples <em>Aqua Teen Hunger Force</em> and <em>Squidbillies</em>. The pilot features voice acting from several folks associated with <em>ATHF</em>, including nerdcore rapper mc chris, Dana Snyder, Frannie Hood (Kristen Schaal's alternate billing credit), and Neko Case. She had a cameo in the &quot;Sirens&quot; episode and is the <a target="_blank" href="http://www.bust.com/blog/2010/03/30/neko-case-stars-as-adult-swims-cheyenne-cinnamon.html">star of this project</a>. For those who haven't seen the episode, you can view it <a target="_blank" href="http://www.adultswim.com/promos/bkbuns2010/index.html">here</a>, along with the other finalists.</p>
<p>The basic premise is as follows: Cheyenne Cinnamon is a blond, buxom pop star based outside Detroit who channels the power of catchy hooks, positive thinking, dance routines, and bare midriffs to solve people's problems. However, she tends to wreak more havoc than broker peace. With clear substance abuse problems and little regard for anything beyond her immediate needs, Cinnamon is more villain than heroine. She embodies the extremes of celebrity narcissism and abjection.</p>
<p><img src=http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4065/4504743346_f0b9684b32_o.jpg /></p>
<p>In the pilot, Cinnamon's charge is an unnamed teenage girl (played by Schaal, credited as Hood). She has been impregnated by her married softball coach and her negligent parents (voiced by Snyder and Rachel Dratch) can't help her. A fan of Cinnamon's, the girl is initially thrilled to receive the pop star's guidance. But soon she discovers that all Cinnamon can offer her is a series of sung platitudes and a mountain of cocaine. Some time after the girl delivers her baby (and the father has been relocated with job intact), Cinnamon wonders aloud if she helped the girl while getting naked in front of a producer to make the song she's recording sound sexier.</p>
<p>Cinnamon is all about Cinnamon. She'll stop action to convince herself aloud that she doesn't need drugs to be a dynamic person, opine about whether to steal another girl's cell phone, muse about wanting a neck tattoo or an anal piercing, or stub her cigarette in her pet unicorn's eye while in flight, effectively killing the mythic creature. When her handler, Gummi (played by mc chris), reports the death as a stolen vehicle, the cops beat the girl while her idol walks away unconcerned.</p>
<p>There should also be some acknowledgement made toward the pilot's problematic relationship with race. Cinnamon and her fan are both white and blond, though the teen's has dark roots and appears to be working class. However, many of the folks on Cinnamon's payroll are African American or can be coded as black, including back-up dancers, producer Big Chocolate Bunny (voiced by MF Doom), and security guard Gingerbread Bouncer (played by T-Pain).</p>
<p>The pilot made me uncomfortable as a feminist for obvious reasons. Adult Swim often trades in programming that employs <a target="_blank" href="http://flowtv.org/?p=1601">uncomfortable comedy</a>. As I would presume the network's target demographic to be twenty-something heterosexual white men, I was not sure whether the show was being critical of the gender and sexual politics of stardom, or if it was just being mean to female pop stars. Also, having Cinnamon so closely mirror Britney Spears's Lolita image and recent history of self-destruction seems fairly obvious, as it did when Richard Kelly cast Sarah Michelle Gellar as porn star/cable television lifestyle guru Krysta Now in <em>Southland Tales</em>.</p>
<object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/vtp14ikRvxo&hl=en_US&fs=1&" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/vtp14ikRvxo&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object><p>Furthermore, this seems like a really safe glass house out of which to throw stones. A pilot about how pop stars are evil on a network run by a subsidiary of Time Warner? With or without the hipster cred of its programming schedule and voice talent, the event that allowed for the pilot to be released was underwritten by major corporations. Plus, it's not like indie rock stars can't be reckless or narcissistic too.</p>
<p>Yet I find Case's involvement interesting for a few reasons. For one, she is playing against type. Case made a name for herself later in life as an independent recording artist who continues to write challenging material and stretch herself professionally. For another, she is playing toward type, as recent <a target="_blank" href="http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2009/01/17-things-i-love-by-neko-case.html">contributions</a> and <a target="_blank" href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=106504004">appearances</a> suggest that she's a funny lady, which fans know from her stage banter. Finally, she's defying audience expectations. In the music world, she's celebrated for her powerful singing voice. But she doesn't sing a note as Cinnamon. Butch Walker's material for Cinnamon is performed by Sofia Toufa, who sounds very different than Case's <a href=http://www.anti.com/artists/view/13>singular alto</a>. Assuredly, this is also meant to serve as a comment on pop star's artifice. Whether pre-recorded or heavily manipulated in the studio, many pop stars aren't singing in their real voice when they're performing.</p>
<p>In sum, while I may not become a fan Cinnamon, I'll continue to follow Case.</p>
http://bitchmagazine.org/post/neko-case-as-cheyenne-cinnamon#commentsAdult SwimBritney SpearsCheyenne Cinnamonfemale pop starsNeko CaseTuning InTVFri, 09 Apr 2010 19:30:00 +0000Alyx Vesey3084 at http://bitchmagazine.org